The Forks Marathon Group

Since 2004, FMG has grown by invitation to include runners from varying strides of life

Over the past 6,000 years, the Forks at the junction of Red and Assiniboine Rivers in Winnipeg has been a meeting place to trade goods, information and stories. For the last 12 years, the Forks Marathon Group (affectionately known as fmg) has met every Saturday morning at this historic crossroads to run their regular routes from 15–35k through the diverse neighbourhoods of Winnipeg. Vladan Protudjer, a former Emergency Room nurse who dealt with crisis on a regular basis, used to say that he had a very important meeting every Saturday morning that he could not miss. Protudjer is one of the founders of fmg that began in 2003 when his professor at the time, “Dr. Bill” Diehl-Jones, a nurse academic, and I decided to go for a run from the Forks.

Since 2004, fmg has grown by invitation to include 20 (or so) runners from varying strides of life including: engineers, a volunteer firefighter, teachers, a soldier, an events promoter, academics, financial professionals, a Maritimer on the Prairies, new Canadians and a vegetarian butcher who occasionally recites poetry. We are runners in our 40s, 50s and nearly-60s who have run together through our pre-race jitters, Boston qualifiers, running injuries, minor surgeries to fix the running injuries, new jobs, teenagers, ptsd, a PhD dissertation, cancer, a spouse with a chronic illness, aging parents and finding "the love of your life" in later life.

In Winnipeg, we run in weather from -30 C to +30 C, light, dark, humidity or hoarfrost, blazing sun or powerful winds. Some of us were on the road in Boston the day the bombs went off. No matter what is happening in our lives, our long-standing meeting, the long run on Saturday morning, is our time spent in movement, effort and friendship that unplugs the rest of our lives for a few hours. Bill explains that "fmg has been a remarkable group of running enthusiasts who have become ‘fast friends’ in every sense of those words."

fmg has no club fees and no website. The one club rule is that the run departs from the Forks at 7 a.m. sharp on Saturday morning. Running beyond 21k implies that runners hook up for a “pre-run” as early as 5:30 a.m., so everyone in fmg can finish at about the same time for coffee. Injured fmg members are encouraged to come for coffee while they are on the mend. The treasured rituals are trips to big races, the post-race stories and the annual Christmas brunch with spouses.

Member Kevin Donnelly explained fmg’s connection to The Forks and Winnipeg community, "Our group instantly saw how the Forks could be and should be a mecca for local and visiting runners. We used to be the only running group out of the Forks Market.” Now there are several different running clubs with different running goals, aspirations and motivations, but all sharing the common love of fitness and camaraderie.

This January, my fiancé, Syl, and I moved from Winnipeg to Edmonton. As f lat-landers from Winnipeg, we are enjoying the hilly river valley in Edmonton each Saturday morning. While we are hundreds of kilometres away from fmg friends, I know they are still on the roads in Winnipeg at about the same time. I know where and when to find them when I return home.